In addition, Lom Pyke and his allies ventured to visit Maul on Zanbar and he joined when he learned that Maul was forming an army. After that, they immediately set course for Hutt Space. They traveled to Nal Hutta and met with the Hutt Grand Council. The Hutts refused, and they were forced to retreat from several bounty hunters, and Oruba was killed by Savage Opress after revealing that the other Hutts were holed up in Jabba'spalace on Tatooine. After a brief skirmish at the palace, the Hutt decided to assist the collective and provided several Hutt enforcers. Following the skirmish, Vizsla personally spoke with Bo-Katan and promised that Mandalore would be theirs and the two brothers would be dead, like the Duchess.

In the days that followed, Maul's collective successfully assisted the Death Watch in the Takeover on Mandalore. Maul's plan involved turning the Death Watch from criminals into heroes for the people, without whom it would be impossible to control Mandalore. Maul's agents attacked police forces in Sundari to show the weakness of the Duchess'sgovernment. Duchess Satine Kryze attempted to calm her people outside the palace, but Vizsla and the Death Watch then swooped in and intervened to "stop" the criminals, becoming heroes in the eyes of the Mandalorian people who started calling for change. Kryze would be imprisoned, and eventually killed by Maul as revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi, Satine's former lover and Maul's nemesis.

Vizlsa deployed squads to stop the criminals and had Ziton Moj, Lom Pyke and Savage Opress arrested. Maul was soon betrayed by Vizsla who had him imprisoned, but the two soon broke out of prison with former Prime Minister Almec and they confronted Vizsla. In a duel, Maul killed Vizsla and proclaimed himself Mandalore and the leader of the Death Watch. Bo-Katan and her Nite Owls refused to join and fled. Maul would then have his soldiers repaint their armor red.

Soon after, the Shadow Collective would face the Nite Owls in battle. But the renegades would team up with Obi-Wan Kenobi. The two Sith Lords, meanwhile, dueled with the Dark Lord of the SithDarth Sidious when he came to the palace to deal with the brothers personally. In the duel, Sidious managed to kill Opress when he impaled him on his lightsabers, and he subdued Maul with Force lightning.